Nut feeding apparatus



Nov. 21, 1961 E. H. SCHOOLCRAFT ETAL NUT FEEDING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 10, 1956 4 M 4, x Q 4 6 4 0 5 mz 7 2 4 2 2 6 M mm W 2 O 0 O 0 5 MW. M O Q 8 8 8 M O 2 H Q m9 INVENTORS' SCHOOLCRAFT EDWIN H CECIL M. NELSON By JOHN E. CAHILL A T TORNEKS Nov. 21, 1961 E. H. SCHOOLCRAFT ETAL 3,009,561

NUT FEEDING APPARATUS Filed May 10, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 gr a VIIIIIIIII INVENTORS FIG. 17 EDWIN H. SCHOOLCRAFT CECIL M. NELSON JOHN E. CAHILL ATTORNEYS Nov. 21, 1961' E. H. SCHOOLCRAFT ET AL 3,009,561

NUT FEEDING APPARATUS Filed May 10, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet a FIG.3

INVENTORS EDWIN H. SCHOOLCRAFT CECIL M. NELSON JOHN E. CAHILL Big 2 M 6 1 6 E. H. SCHOOLCRAFT Em 3,009,561

NUT FEEDING APPARATUS Filed May 10, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORS' EDWIN H. SCHOOLCRAFT CECIL M.NELSON 2 FIG.7 By JOHN E.CAHILL ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofiice 3,009,561 Patented Nov. 21, 1961 3,009,561 NUT FEEDING APPARATUS Edwin H. Schoolcraft, Forest Grove, Greg, and Cecil M- Nelson, Minneapolis, and John E. Cahill, Birchwood,

Minn, assignors to Northwest Nut Growers, Portland,

Oregn, a corporation of Oregon Filed May 10, 1956, Ser. No. 584,060 4 Claims. (Cl. 19833) This invention relates to a nut feeding apparatus and more particularly to apparatus for orienting and feeding elongated articles and which is especially useful for receiving cashew nuts from a bulk supply and continuously orienting and carrying said nuts between continuously moving spaced electrodes in a manner enabling such electrodes to engage the ends of the nuts so that a high voltage impulse electric discharge between the electrodes can be employed to shatter the shells of the nuts without damage to the nut kernels.

The cracking of Walnuts by subjecting them to a high voltage impulse electric discharge has gone into large scale commercial operation, the general process and apparatus being disclosed and claimed in the patent to McMillen, 2,661,784 granted December 8, 1953, and the specific apparatus employed for orienting walnuts being disclosed and claimed in the patent to Kofoid, 2,609,942 granted September 9, 1952. The orienting apparatus of the Kofoid patent eifectively presents walnuts in proper position between spaced electrodes with the small holes which exist in the opposite ends of walnut shells presented to the ends of the two-spaced electrodes. Cashew nuts have a very much different shape than walnuts and the grooved wheels of the Kofoi-d patent are not effective for orienting cashew nuts and presenting them to electrodes. At present, cashew nuts are cracked by hand. Cracking of cashew nuts is carried out for the most part in India, although about half of such nuts are raised elsewhere than in India and shipped to India for cracking. The shells of the cashew nuts are of cellular structure and contain a considerable amount of a high quality drying oil particularly useful in brake elements. Approximately twenty-five percent of the entire weight of the nut is made up of such cashew nutshell oil, the weight of the kernel being approximately twenty-five percent of the weight of the nut and the weight of the shell exclusive of the oil being approximately fifty percent of the weight of the nut. Before cracking, the nuts are usually subjected to a heat treatment which removes approximately sixty percent of the oil contained in the shell and also the treatment renders the shells more brittle so as to facilitate the cracking of the nuts. The oil remaining in the shells as well as that removed by the heat treatment contains a toxic ingredient, having an eflect similar to that of poison oak or poison ivy, and it is becoming increasingly diificult to secure hand labor to crack the nuts. Also, the nuts re cracked under unsanitary conditions and the recovery of the valuable drying oil is inefficient and not under controlled conditions such that the quality of the oil varies widely. The nut kernels and oil are separately shipped in bulk, the United States receiving the majority of both the oil and nut kernels. Both the oil and the nut meats require extensive processing before they can be marketed or employed and the hand cracking operations produce a large percentage of less valuable broken kernels.

In accordance with the present invention, cashew nuts are received from a bulk supply and are oriented and carried in properly spaced relationship between moving electrodes which are mounted upon and project radially from electrode wheels. Cashew nut shells have a parting line extending around the narrow sides and ends of the nut and it has been found that the best cracking position of the nuts is with their major dimension extending between the ends of the spaced electrodes, i.e., a position in which the ends of the electrodes engage the ends of the nuts at the parting line. The orienting of the nuts is accomplished in a horizontally disposed feed member in the form of a pan rotated about a central vertical axis and having an upwardly curved sidewall. The nuts are delivered into the central portion of the feed member and curve of the sidewall should, at least, approximate a parabola so that the nuts are urged outwardly and upwardly by centrifugal force in a substantially uniform manner. The bottom of the pan contains radially extending grooves or depressions which cause the nuts to assume a position with their major dimensions extending substantially radially of the pan as they slide outwardly in the grooves in the pan. The nuts are removed from the grooves as they reach a position adjacent the periphery of the pan by a continuously moving vacuum pickup means having suction ports which register with a given groove in the pan only once in several revolutions of the pan so that there is ample opportunity for the nuts to assume their properly oriented positions adjacent the periphery of the pan between pickup operations.

Cashew nut shells do not have holes or thin portions at their ends, as is the case with walnut shells, and for eifectivecracking of such cashew nuts, it has been found desirable to employ pointed electrodes which penetrate through theshell of the nut so that the discharge between the end electrode takes place in the interior of the nut. By producing a high voltage impulse discharge, for example, producing a discharge between the electrodes of the order of 40 to thousand volts and of the order of two thousand amperes for a time of the order of 15 microseconds, the shell of the nut is shattered with explosive violence and in almost all cases the nut kernel is unharmed. The nuts can be shipped in their raw state to a central point and then given a heat treatment to remove a portion of the oil and embrittle the shell after which they are cracked in accordance with the present invention. 'Since no manual handling of the nuts is required, the toxic material, above referred to, has no deleterious effect. The nut kernels can be separated from the shells under sanitary conditions and the recovery of substantially all of the shell oil can also be carried out under controlled conditions. While the present invention has been developed with reference to the orienting and feeding of cashew nuts, it will be apparent that the present method and apparatus has utility in any environment where it is desired to orient elongated articles and feed the oriented articles in spaced or timed relationship with respect to each other. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for orienting elongated articles and continuously delivering the same in spaced oriented relationship with each other.

Another object of the invention is to provide a feeding and orienting apparatus in which a rotating feeding member with radially extending depressions in an upwardly curved sidewall is employed to orient articles having a length greater than their width or thickness and in which the articles are removed from the feeding member and delivered while in spaced relationship and while still maintaining such orientation.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for picking up and transferring nuts or other elongated articles from a rotary to a lineal line of movement and for maintaining the orientation of the articles during such pickup and transfer.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for feeding cashew nuts in which such nuts are oriented and delivered in spaced relationship with respect to each other to continuously moving spaced electrodes between which the nuts are cracked.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cashew nut feeding apparatus in which the cashew nuts are oriented and fed in spaced relation with respect to each other and with their longer dimensions parallel to continuously moving spaced electrodes having points engaging the ends of the nuts.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cashew nut feeding apparatus in which a member rotating about a vertical axis and having an upwardly curved sidewall with radially extending depressions therein is employed to orient the cashew nuts and in which vacuum pickup means are employed to remove the nuts from the rotating member and deliver them to a cracking mechanism in spaced relationship and with their longer axis substantially parallel.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a cashew nut feeding apparatus in which cashew nuts are fed in spaced and timed relationship with respect to each other and while being held between resilient gripping elements with their longer axes parallel and transverse to the path of feed and are carried between spaced electrodes projecting radially from electrode wheels and engaging the ends of the nuts.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof given in connection with the attached drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and having certain parts broken away;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2 and also showing the orienting pan and driving mechanism therefor in vertical section;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 and also showing the speed reduction drive in vertical section;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing part of the peripheral portion of the orienting pan on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of FIG. 7 and showing a cashew nut in dotted lines in position in the radial groove in the pan;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary plan view showing a portion of the orienting pan;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary vertical section showing a modified orienting pan;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary vertical section similar to FIG. 10, showing a further modified pan;

FIG. 12 is as fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale through one of the electrodes;

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary section view on an enlarged scale showing details of the structure for making electrical connection to the electrode wheels;

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale illustrating the position of a cashew nut between the cracking electrodes and showing the nut in rear elevation;

FIG. 15, is a view similar to FIG. 14 showing the nut in side elevation;

FIG. 16 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view showing portions of the electrode wheels in plan; and

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a suitable electrical circuit for supplying the high voltage high current impulse electric discharge which is employed in the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 of the drawings, the apparatus of the present invention includes a base member 20 made up of channel members forming a hollow rectangle to which are secured rear upright frame members 22, (FIG. 1) and. 24 (FIG. 3) and front upright frame members 26 (FIG. 1) and 28 (FIG. 3). An upwardly inclined frame member 30 (FIG. 1) has its lower end secured to the upper end of the upright frame member 22 and is inclined toward the front of the machine at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees from the vertical. Also, a downwardly inclined frame member 32 extends between the tops of the upright frame members 24 and 28 as most clearly shown in FIG. 3, and is inclined at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees from the horizontal toward the front of the machine from the top of the upright frame member 24. The machine also includes a horizontal frame member 34 (FIG. 1) extending between the top of the front upright frame member 26 and an intermediate portion of the rear upright frame member 22.

The other elements of the machine are supported by the frame elements above referred to and include an orienting pan 36 secured to a vertically extending shaft 38 journaled in bearings 40 (FIG. 3) supported by rubber bushings 42 mounted in pillow blocks 44 secured to a bearing support plate 46 (FIG. 1) in turn secured to the horizontal frame member 34. The main purpose of the rubber bushings 42 is to provide for longitudinal vibration of the shaft 38 to vibrate the pan 36, such vibration being accomplished by means of an electrically driven vibrator 48 (FIG. 3) of any suitable or known type secured to the lower end of the shaft 38 and serving to vibrate the shaft in a vertical direction. The vibrator 48 is supplied with electric power through slip rings 50, also secured to the shaft 38 and suitably insulated therefrom, the operating current for the vibrator 48 being supplied to such slip rings by means of brushes 52 (FIG. 1) carried by an insulating brush support member 54, also suitably secured to the bearing support plate 46, the brush support member 54 and brushes being omitted from FIG. 3 for the purpose of clarity.

The pan 36 is rotated by a bevel gear 56 secured to the upper end of the shaft 38 and meshing with a bevel gear 58 secured to the end of a shaft 60 journaled in bearings carried by a pillow block 62 (FIGS. 3 and 6) secured to the upwardly inclined frame member 39. The pan 36 is of the general cross sections shown in FIG. 3. The peripheral wall of the pan curves upwardly and outwardly in the form of a parabola, such that nuts delivering into the pan through a chute 64, shown in dash-dot lines in FIG. 1, tend to spread out in the pan and move outwardly and upwardly along the curved walls of the pan, the vibration from the electric vibrator 4S assisting in this movement. As a specific example, the upward curvature of the interior surface of the wall of the pan may follow the curve represented by the formula y=-.O435x where x is radial distance from the center of the pan and y is vertical height above a horizontal plane both variables being given in inches. As shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, as well as FIG. 3, the pan has a plurality of radially extending ridges 66 pro jecting above such upper or interior surface, the ridges 66 defining radially extending grooves or depressions 68. The ridges terminate at positions adjacent but spaced from the periphery of the pan. A rim member '70, preferably in the form of a ring of flexible rubber, having inwardly extending flexible teeth 71 extending across the ends of the grooves is adhesively secured to the inner surface of the pan adjacent its periphery for preventing nuts from being thrown out of the pan. The ridges 66 are preferably of the angular form shown and gradually increase in height above the general surface of the pan as they approach the periphery of the pan, the ridges decreasing to zero at points spaced from the center of the pan. The grooves 68 between the ridges 66 increase in depth from such points toward the periphery of the pan and their bottom surfaces become narrower as they approach the periphery of the pan. The cashew nuts are delivered into the chute 64 at a controlled rate by any known or suitable bulk delivery apparatus and upon being introduced into the pan 36 are oriented in the grooves 68 as they move outwardly along the upwardly curving walls of the pan 36 by centrifugal action. Such nuts come to rest in a position in which they are in contact with the flexible teeth of the rim member 7 0. The form of the grooves and ridges cause the nuts to reach such position with their longer axes extending substantially radially of the pan and with one of their sides of greatest area directed upwardly away from the general surface of the pan.

The nuts are removed from the pan by a vacuum pickup mechanism, including a vacuum wheel 72 secured to the shaft 60 and having its periphery adjacent the interior of the pan just inside of the rim member 70. The vacuum wheel 72 is provided with a plurality of radially extending bores 74, the number of such bores being twelve in the illustrated machine, and the bores being equally spaced angularly in the wheel. The periphery of the wheel 72 is provided with a plurality of sprocket teeth 76 and a flexible belt 78 of the positive drive type having matching teeth 80 in trained around the vacuum wheel 72 and also around a pulley 82 also having sprocket teeth 84 thereon. The belt is maintained in position laterally of the vacuum wheel by flanges 86 extending around the periphery of the vacuum wheel 72. The belt 78 has a plurality of apertures 88 therein which are spaced a longitudinal distance along the belt which is the same as the peripheral distance between the bores 74 at the periphery of the vacuum wheel 72. The holes or apertures 88 in the belt 78 are maintained in registry with the bores 74 in the vacuum wheel by reason of the teeth 76 and 80 upon the vacuum wheel and belt respectively. The belt 78 has a plurality of pads or nut receiving members 89 secured to its outer surface, there being a pad corresponding to each of the apertures 88 and such pads each have a bore therein forming a continuation of the apertures 88. The pads are preferably square or rectangular shaped elements of soft rubber, such as sponge rubber, adhesively secured to the belt. The inner surface of the sidewall of the pan adjacent the pe riphery thereof makes an angle of approximately fortyfive degrees with the horizontal and the shaft 60 and vacuum wheel 72 make a similar angle to the horizontal such that the outer surface of the belt 78 at the point of its nearest approach to the inner surface of the pan has a tangent plane at such point which is substantially parallel to a plane tangent to the general curved surface of the pan adjacent such point. The vacuum wheel 72 and belt 78 are positioned relative to the pan 36 such that the exterior surfaces of the pads 89 are moved adjacent but spaced from the interior surface of the pan when the vacuum wheel is rotated.

The vacuum wheel 72 is rotated by the belt 78 from the pulley 82 and the vacuum wheel 72 being secured to the shaft 60 drives the pan 36 through the bevel gears -8 and 56. The pulley 82 is secured to a shaft 90 (FIG. 4) journaled in bearings in a pillow block 92 in turn secured to an upwardly extending bearing support bracket 94 (FIG. 2) secured to the downwardly inclined frame member 32. The shaft 90 also has secured thereto a gear 96 meshing with a spur gear 98 secured to a main drive shaft 100 journaled in bearings in support members 102 and 104 (FIG. 4) secured to the upper surface of the downwardly inclined member 32. The main drive shaft 100 is connected through a flexible coupling 1% to the output shaft of a speed reducer containing a worm 108 and a worm gear 110, the worm 188 being secured to a pulley shaft 112 journaled in the casing of the speed reducer and having a pulley 114 (FIG. 3) driven from an electric motor 116 by means of a belt 118. The vacuum wheel 72 and pulley 82 are so positioned that the upper run of the belt 78 (FIG. 2) extends substantially horizontally, but with its exposed outer surface at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizontal.

A vacuum is produced in the bores 74, in the vacuum wheel 72 and the apertures 88 in the belt 78 and pads 89 by means of a distributor 122 (FIGS. 1 and 5) in the form of an annular member surrounding the shaft 60 and having a pair of arcuate slots 124 and 126 in one face thereof registering with axially extending bores 128 (FIG. 3) in the vacuum wheel 72 corresponding to and communicating with the inner ends of the radially extending bores 74. The distributor 122 is spring pressed against the rear face of the vacuum wheel 72 and held from rotation by a bracket 130 (FIG. 6) secured to the upwardly inclined frame member 30, the bracket 130 having a portion surrounding the shaft 60 and the distributor 122 having a pair of studs 132 screw-threaded thereinto and extending through suitable apertures in the bracket 130. A pair of compression springs 134 surround the studs 132 and extend between the distributor 122 and bracket 130 to press the distributor against the vacuum wheel 72. The slot 124 (FIG. 5) is somewhat greater than 180 in angular extent and communicates with a chamber Within the distributor 122 to which is connected a.vacuum pipe 136 leading to any suitable source of vacuum.

A vacuum is established in one of the radially extending bores 74 justas the aperture 88 in the belt in communication with such bore reaches a position over a nut in one of the grooves 68 in the orienting pan 36 and such nut is picked up and carried upwardly around the vacuum wheel 72, the source of vacuum being disconnected from such bore 74 at approximately the time the nut reaches the top of the vacuum wheel 72. The slot 126 in the distributor 122 is connected to an internal chamber in the distributor 122 which in turn is connected to an air pressure pipe 138 leading to any suitable source of air under pressure. Air from said source is blown outwardly through the bores 74 in the vacuum wheel when such bores are disconnected from the source of vacuum in order to clean out any foreign material which may enter the bores. The application of air pressure to the distributor 122 may be intermittent, i.e., the air pressure may be turned on from time to time under eitherautomatic or manual control so as to periodically clean out the bores 74. v

In order to hold nuts carried to the top of the vacuum wheel 72 on the upper run of the belt 78, a second belt 140 (FIG. 2) of the same general type as the belt 78 and provided with pads 141 belt 78 is trained over three The pads 141 are spaced the same distance apart as the pads 89 of the belt 78 and register with the pads 89. The pads 141 also preferably have an aperture 147 therein to assist in holding a nut in proper position between the belts. The pulley 142 is positioned above the vacuum wheel 72 and in the same general plane and is secured to a shaft 148 having its axis in the same vertical plane as the axis of the shaft 60. The shaft 148 is journaled in bearings in a pillow block 150 adjustably secured to the upwardly inclined frame member 30 for adjustment parallel to such frame member. The position of the pulley 142 is normally adjusted so that it is spaced from the vacuum wheel 72 to provide room for the belts 78 and 140 and their nut holding pads 89 and 147 and for a cashew nut to be gripped firmly between the pads on the pads on the two belts. The shaft 148 is driven from the shaft 60 carrying the vacuum wheels 72 by means of a spur gear 152 (FIG. 1) secured to the end of the shaft 68 opposite the vacuum wheel 72 and meshing with a spur gear 154 secured to the end of the shaft 148 opposite the pulley 142. This drives the belt 140 and the diameters of the gears 152 and 154 are correlated with the diameters of the vacuum Wheel 72 and pulley 142 such that the belts 78 and 140 travel at the same speed. The length of the two belts are, however, preferably such that there are different numbers of annular pads 89 and 141 on the belts 78 and 140, respectively, such that a given pad'on'one belt successively opposes different pads on the other belt. Thus in the particular machine illustrated, there are fifteen pads on the belt 78 and fourteen on the belt 140.

pulleys 142, 144 and 146.

similar to the pads 89 of' The pulley 144 is secured to a shaft 156 journaled in bearings in a pillow block 158 also secured to the upwardly inclined frame member 30. The pulley 146 is secured to one end of a shaft 160 (FIG. 4) journaled in bearing in a short pillow block 162 secured to a bracket 164 extending laterally of the machine and also secured to the upwardly inclined frame member 30 (FIG. 2). It will be apparent that the pulleys 144 and 146 are idler pulleys driven by the belt 140. The lower run of the belt 140 extends parallel to the upper run of the belt 78 and is spaced therefrom a distance such that cashew nuts are resiliently gripped between the pads 147 and 89 on two belts and carried to the right in FIG. 2.

The cashew nuts held by vacuum on the pads 88 reach the bight between the belts 78 and 140 in oriented position with their long axes parallel and extending transversely of the belts. The nuts are spaced a definite distance apart as they are carried to the right in FIG. 2. The pads 89 and 141 on the belts 78 and 140 and the apertures 88 and 147 therein hold the nuts in oriented position and carry them between front and rear electrode wheels 166 and 168, the latter of which is shown in FIG. 2, and both of which are shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. The rear electrode wheel is secured to the upper end of a shaft 170 (FIG. 4), which is of electrical insulating material, and the shaft 170 is journaled in bearings secured in a bearing block 172, also of electrical insulating material. The block 172 is secured to the upper surface of the support member 102 and the lower end of the shaft projects into the interior of such support member and has a bevel gear 174 secured thereto. The bevel gear 174 meshes with a bevel gear 176 secured to the main drive shaft 100. Similarly, the front electrode wheel 166 is secured to the upper end of an insulating shaft 178 journaled in bearings in an insulating bearing block 180 secured to the upper surface of the support member 104. The lower end of the shaft 178 projects into the support member 104 and has a bevel gear 182 secured thereto which meshes with a bevel gear 184 also secured on the main drive shaft 100.

The electrode wheels 166 and 168 are of metal and have a plurality of electrode holders 186 adjustably secured in their peripheries so as to extend radially from the electrode wheel, the electrode holders being screwthreaded into bores in the periphery of the electrode wheels and held in adjusted position by locknuts '188 (FIG. 12). Each of the electrode holders may have an electrode 190 adjustably and releasably secured therein, for example, by a set screw 192 and as shown in FIG. 12, each electrode may have a sharp point 194 for penetrating the shell of the cashew nut 196.

Electrical connection is made to the electrode wheels 166 and 168 through contact structures, each including a cup shaped member 200 secured to the upper surface of each electrode wheel. The members 200 each provide a surface extending in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the shaft 178 and a stud 202 extending axially of such shaft from such surface. As shown in FIG. 13, the stud 202 has a cross member 204 held against rotation thereon and also held against a shoulder (not shown) on the stud by a nut 206 (FIG. 4). A pressure plate 208 surrounds the stud adjacent its lower end and a contact plate 210 is positioned between the pressure plate 208 and the cup-shaped member 200. A spring 212 positioned between the cross member 204 and the pressure plate 208 presses the latter against the contact plate 210. A pair of dowels 214 extend upwardly from the pressure plate and engage the sides of the crosspiece 204 so as to cause the pressure plate 208 to rotate with the stud 202 and therefore with the cup member 200. The contact plate 210 is held aaginst rotation by a bus bar 216 connected thereto and, since both the cup member 200 and the pressure plate 208 rotate with their associated electrode wheel, a sliding electrical contact under spring pressure is prO- vided between the contact plate 210, the cup member 200 and pressure plate 203.

The electrode wheels 166 and 168 are driven in timed relationship with the vacuum wheel 72 and belts 78 and so that the electrodes 190 engage the ends of the cashew nuts 196 as they are carried to the right in FIGS. 2 and 16. It will be noted that a vertical plane through the axis of shaft 100 is displaced to the right in FIG. 2 with respect to a vertical plane through the axes of the shafts 90 and carrying the pulleys 82 and 146. The axes of the shafts and 178 carrying the electrode wheels 166 and 168 are in the same vertical plane as the axis of the shaft 100, such that when two corresponding electrodes of the electrode wheels 166 and 168 come into alignment with a nut 196 therebetween, the nut has been carried out of contact with the holding pads 89 and 147 of the belts 78 and 140. This is apparent from FIG. 2 in which the electrode occupying the position just discussed is displaced to the right in such figure from a line joining the centers of the shafts 90 and 160. At this time the nut engaging electrodes 190 occupy the position shown in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16, such that the points of the electrodes penetrate the shells of the nuts 196. Also, at this time a high voltage high current electric discharge is produced between the electrodes 190 by momentarily connecting the electrode wheels to a high voltage source and the result is the shattering of the shell of the cashew nut with explosive violence without damaging the nut meat itself. The shattering of the shell occurs when the nut is out of contact with the holding pads 89 and 147 and the nut is supported by the electrodes only. The shattered shell and nut meat drop downwardly and are received in a suitable chute positioned below the electrode wheels 166 and 168, such chute being omitted from the drawings for the sake of clarity. The mixed shell and nut meat are carried to a separating apparatus forming no part of the present invention.

A suitable electric circuit for providing the high voltage high current impulse electric discharge is indicated in FIG. 17, although various other types of circuits may be employed. In the particular circuit illustrated, power input is from a three phase line indicated by L1, L2 and L3, supplying a delta connected primary winding 216 of a three phase transformer. The secondary winding 218 is Y connected and supplies a full Wave rectifier circuit including a plurality of rectifiers 220 which may be of any suitable type capable of rectifying currents at high voltages and may, for example, be high vacuum electron discharge tubes. One side of the rectifier circuit is connected to ground and the other side may be connected to a choke coil 222 forming the input element of a storage and filter circuit also including capacitors 224 and 226, a damping diode 228, which also may be a high vacuum electron discharge tube, and another choke coil 230. The diode 228 and choke coil are connected in series between the first capacitor 224 and the output capacitor 226. Capacitor 226 is charged relatively slowly and discharged rapidly by being connected to one of the electrode wheels 168 through a rotating high voltage switch 232. The other electrode wheel 166 may be connected to ground, but as described with reference to FIG. 4, this electrode wheel may, in common with the electrode wheel 168, be insulated from the frame of the machine. The frame of the machine may also be insulated from ground, for example, it may rest upon an insulating base, not shown. All of the portions of the high voltage circuit having a connection to ground, as above described, are preferably connected to a single ground 233 by bus bars which are as short and direct as the physical structure of the apparatus permits. A point on one of such bus bars can be found, for example, the points 234 to which the frame of the machine can be connected so as to substantially eliminate sparking or arcing between either of the electrode wheels 166 and 168 and the frame of the machine when the electrode wheel 168 is connected to the power supply circuit by means of the rotating switch 232. The

switch 232 is driven in timed relationship with the elec trode wheels 166 and 168 by any suitable means (not shown) so that an impulse discharge is produced between a pair of electrodes 190 each time a pair of such electrodes reach the position shown in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16. Such an impulse discharge may, for example, be of the order of two thousand amperes at a voltage which will usually range between thirty-five and seventy-five thousand volts and the time of the discharge will usually be of the order of fifteen microseconds. This means that the charging current for the capacitor 226 may be of the order of a fraction of an ampere, if, for example, twenty nuts per second are cracked.

In operation, the main drive shaft 100 of the apparatus is driven from the motor 116 through the belt 118, pulley 114, shaft 112, worm 188 (FIG. 4), worm gear 110 and flexible coupling 106. The two electrode wheels 166 and 168 are driven from the main drive shaft 180 through bevel gears, the shaft 178 of the electrode wheel 166 being driven through the bevel gears 184 and 182 and the shaft 170 of the electrode wheel 168 being driven through the bevel gears 176 and 174. The shaft 90 for the pulley 82 for the nut transporting belt 78 is driven from the main drive shaft 100 through spur gears 98 and 96 and the remainder of the apparatus is driven from the belt 78. This belt is trained around the vacuum wheel 72 (FIG. 2) and has teeth 80 thereon meshing with similar teeth 76 on the vacuum wheel 72 and also similar teeth '84 on the pulley 82. The teeth on the belt 78 and vacuum wheel 72 and pulley 82 maintain a proper timed relation between the vacuum Wheel 72 and the belt 78 and also between the electrode wheels 166 and 168 and the belt 78. The upper nut carrying belt 140 is of the same type as the belt 78 and is driven from the pulley 142, this pulley being driven through spur gears 152 and 154 (FIG. 3) on the shaft 60 of the vacuum wheel 72 and on the shaft 148 of the pulley 142, respectively. The pulleys 144 and 146 (FIG. 2) are idler pulleys driven by the belt 140. The shaft 38 for the pan 36 is driven from the shaft 60 carrying the vacuum wheel 72 through bevel gears 58 and 56 on the shafts 6t and 38, respectively.

Nuts are fed into the pan 36 through the chute indicated at '64 in dash-dot lines in FIG. 1 from any known or suitable apparatus capable of supplying cashew nuts at a controlled rate. The nuts are fed into the pan at a rate substantially equal to that in which they are removed by the vacuum pickup device including the vacuum wheel 72. The pan 36 is rotated while being vertically vibrated by the electric vibrator 48 in a vertical direction and the speed of rotation of the pan is maintained such that the cashew nuts migrate outwardly and upwardly along the curved peripheral wall of the pan and become oriented in the grooves 68 formed between the radial ridges 66 in the upper surface of the pan. Electric power is supplied to the electric vibrator 48 through the slip rings 50 and brushes 52 from any suitable source of power, such as a standard 110 volt alternating current lighting circuit. The bushings 42 supporting the bearings 48 for the shaft 38 permit the vertical vibration of the pan referred to and also allow yielding of the pan relative to the belt 78 in the event a misaligned nut or a foreign object of larger size reaches a position between the pan and the belt. The combined rotary movement of the pan and vertical vibration thereof cause the cashew nuts to each move to positions in grooves 68 with their longest dimension radially of the pan, i.e., parallel with the grooves. The vacuum pickup wheel 72 is rotated at a speed which causes the apertures 88 in the belt 78 and pads 89 to register with the grooves in the pan. Since the pads and apertures are spaced a greater distance apart than the grooves 68, the apertures do not register with adjacent grooves but register with grooves spaced from each other. In the particular machine illustrated, there are sixty-one grooves in the pan 36 and twelve bores in the vacuum wheel 72 which align with the apertures 88. The dispan. This is accomplished in the particular machine dis closed by driving the shafts 60 and 38 at a speed ratio of 61 to 60. That is to say, the bevel gear 56 attached to the shaft 38 of the pan 36 has sixty-one teeth therein while the bevel gear 58 attached to the shaft 60 carrying the vacuum wheel 72 has sixty teeth therein. The portion of the pan adjacent the belt should travel at approximately the same lineal speed as the belt but may travel at a slightly greater or slightly lesser speed. In the machine illustrated, the speed of the outer surfaces of the pads 89 on belt 78 in their travel around the vacuum wheel 72 is very close to the speed of the adjacent portion of the pan 36 and it is apparent that various types of drives between the pan and pickup mechanism may be employed.

A general statement of the relationship between the aperture 88 and grooves or depressions 68 is that the number of the grooves in the pan should diflfer by unity from a multiple of the number of grooves corresponding to the spacing between the centers of adjacent apertures. In the particular machine described employing sixty-one grooves in the pan and twelve radial bores in the vacuum pickup wheel, the number of grooves corresponding to the spacing between the centers of adjacent apertures is five such that the apertures in the belt 78 and pads 89 register with every fifth groove in the pan 36 and each groove in the pan 36 registers with an aperture in the belt 78 once in approximately every five revolutions of the pan. This means that after a nut has been removed from one of the grooves in the pan, a time equal to that required for approximately five revolutions of the pan is provided during which another cashew nut can reach the pick up position in the same groove. It will be apparent that other similar relations between the number of grooves in the pan and the spacings between apertures in the belt can be employed.

The distributor 122 causes a vacuum to be produced in the bores 74 of the vacuum wheel 72 which register with apertures in the belt '78 just before a given aperture 88 is brought close to a nut in the pan and maintains a vacuum in such bores until the nut has been raised from the pan by suction and carried upwardly around the vacuum wheel 72 in a clockwise direction in FIG. 2 after which the vacuum source is disconnected from the bores and, as described above, such bores may be connected by the distributor to a source of air under pressure to remove any foreign material from the bores.

The flexible teeth 71 of the rim member 70 enable the nuts to be removed from the pan 36 without having their orientation on the pads 89 disturbed but other rim structures for the pan can be employed. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the ridges 238 may extend to the periphery of the pan but may be otherwise similar to the ridges 66 of FIGS. 7, 8 and 9. A flexible rim member 248 may be secured to the such periphery, for example, by an angle member 242 secured to the pan and a plurality of screws 244 holding the rim member against the angle member. The rim member 240 is positioned to extend across the ends of the grooves between the ridges 238 and may be of flexible rubber, similar to that described with reference to the rim member 70 of'FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, and may be formed to provide similar flexible teeth. As another modification shown in FIG. 11, the peripheral portion 246 of the pan may be formed to curve upwardly and inwardly so as to close the end of the grooves'between the ridges 248 which grooves may be otherwise similar to the groves 68 of FIGS. 7, .8 and 9. v f

The nuts are gripped between the pads 89 or upper run of the belt 78 and the pads 141 or lower run of the belt 148 and are carried to the right in FIG. 2 between a the electrode wheels 166 and 168. The electrode wheels are driven in timed relationship with the belt 78 and such that the ends of the electrodes come into contact with the ends of the cashew nuts 196 and the sharp points of the electrodes penetrate the shells of the cashew nuts. The electrodes are preferably made of a hard wear resistant alloy and can be easily replaced with sharpened electrodes when they become dull. The nuts are maintained by the pads 89 and 147 in their oriented positions set by their position in the pan 36 so that the ends of the nuts are presented to the electrodes 190. While a considerable variation in size of the cashew nuts can be tolerated by the machine of the present invention in any given run, it is preferred that the cashew nuts to be cracked be first graded as to size in any known or suitable nut sizing mechanism so that the machine of the present invention can be adjusted for optimum operation.

When the electrodes have carried the nut to a position out of contact with the belts 78 and 140, the high voltage high current impulse electric discharge, above dis cussed, is produced between the electrodes engaging the nut by the electric circuit, above described, including the rotating timer switch 232. As also discussed above, this shatters the nut shell but in most cases the kernel of the nut remains intact.

As also discussed above it is preferred to first subject the raw cashew nuts to a heat treatment to remove most of the cashew nut shell oil therefrom and cause the shells to become more brittle for the cracking operation. Approximately sixty percent of the oil contained in the nut shell can be thus removed and after separation of the shells from the nut kernels, a considerable percentage of the remaining oil in the nut shells can be removed by any known or suitable treatment, such as a solvent treatment. With the machine of the present invention, manual handling is avoided, such that the toxic properties of the oil contained in the nut shells does not present a problem.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for orienting and feeding cashew nuts spaced relationship, said apparatus comprising an upwardly opening horizontally disposed circular pan having an upwardly peripheral portion having a plurality of radially extending depressions in the upper surface of said peripheral portion terminating adjacent the periphery of said pan, means supporting said pan for rotation about a vertical axis through the center of said pan so that said depressions travel in a circular path, means for feeding said nuts into said pan at a point spaced from said periphery, means for rotating said pan about said axes to cause said nuts to move outwardly in said pan and assume positions in said depressions adjacent said periphery with their longest dimension generally parallel with the outer terminal portion of said depressions, and vacuum pick up means above said pan, said vacuum pick up means including a pulley having its periphery adjacent the periphery of said pan, a belt partially surrounding said pulley and positioned over the nuts in said depressions, said belt having radially extending apertures therein and said pulley having radial bores registering with said apertures in said belt, means to drive said pulley in timed relation with said pan to move said apertures in said belt in registry with depressions in said pan, and means to produce a vacuum in said bores so as to remove nuts from said depressions.

2. Apparatus for orienting and feeding cashew nuts in spaced relationship, said apparatus comprising an upwardly opening horizontally disposed circular pan having an upwardly peripheral portion having a plurality of radially extending depressions in the upper surface of said peripheral portion terminating adjacent the periphery of said pan, said depressions havinga Width greater than the width of said nuts but less than the length of said nuts, means supporting said pan for rotation about a vertical axis through the center of said pan so that said depressions travel in a circular path, means for feeding said nuts into said pan at a point spaced from said periphery, means for rotating said pan about said axes to cause said nuts to move outwardly in said pan and assume positions in said depressions adjacent said periphery with their longest dimension extending substantially radially of said pan, and vacuum pick up means above said pan, said vacuum pick up means including a pulley mounted for rotation about an axis substantially parallel with an element of the upper surface of said pan adjacent the periphery thereof, said pulley having its periphery adjacent said periphery of said pan, a belt partially surrounding said pulley and positioned over the nuts in said depressions, said belt having radially extending apertures therein and said pulley having radial bores registering with said apertures in said belt, means to drive said pulley in timed relation with said pan to move said apertures in registry with depressions in said pan, and means to produce a vacuum in said bores so as to remove nuts from said depressions, said vacuum pick up means including another belt cooperating with the first mentioned belt for transporting said nuts, said other belt and said first mentioned belt having parallel runs spaced from each other for carrying said nut away from said first mentioned pulley.

3. A nut feeding apparatus for cashew nuts comprising a nut orienting p an, a vacuum pick up device for removing nuts from said orienting pan and transporting said nuts while retaining them in oriented position, said pick up means including a pulley having a plurality of radial holes extending outwardly through its periphery, a belt partially surrounding said pulley and having apertures registering with said holes in said pulley, said belt being positioned to engage the oriented nuts in said pan, means for establishing a vacuum in said holes to cause nuts to adhere to the outer surface of said belt and means including another belt cooperating with the first mentioned belt transporting said nuts, said other belt and said first mentioned belt having parallel runs spaced from each other for holding said nuts in oriented position and carrying said nuts away from said first mentioned pulley.

4. Apparatus for feeding cashew nuts comprising a horizontally disposed circular pan having an upwardly curved peripheral portion and a plurality of radially extending grooves in the upper surface of said peripheral portion, said grooves having a width greater than the width but less than the length of said nuts and terminating adjacent the periphery of said pan, means supporting said pan for rotation about a vertical axis through the center of said pan so that said grooves travel in a circular path, means for feeding said nuts into said pan at a point spaced from said periphery, means for vibrating said pan, means for rotating said pan about said axes to cause said nuts to move outwardly in said pan to positions in said grooves adjacent said periphery with their longest dimension extending substantially radially of said pan, vacuum pick up means above said p an including a belt having suction openings moved in registry with said depressions during a portion of their travel in said circular path for removing said articles from said pans, and means including a second belt for advancing said nuts in spaced parallel relationship, said belts having parallel runs spaced from each other for carrying said nuts away from said first mentioned pulley.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 204,137 Cormack May 28, 1878 228,520 Eberhard June 8, 1880 1,724,077 Fleischer et al Aug. 13, 1929 2,325,665 Cox Aug. 3, 1943 2,583,380 Kofoid Jan. 22, 1952 2,601,421 Thaning June 24, 1952 2,661,784 McMillan Dec. 8, 1953 2,685,312 Mulvany et al Aug. 3, 1954 2,696,297 Matthews Dec. 7, 1954 2,725,971 Clark-Riede Dec. 6, 1955 2,747,635 Kofoid May 29, 1956 2,755,834 Mulvany July 24, 1956 2,818,158 Brooks Dec. 31, 1957 

